Our Staff

Tony Beech – Director

Tony is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. Tony has a wide range of experience, having been at Lawson Avery for over 30 years. He is the trusted advisor to a number of clients covering the farming, business, viticulture, wineries and apiarist industries. Tony provides clients with specialist tax, succession planning and business planning advice. Tony is also the non-executive director on three Wairarapa based companies. Tony has contributed significantly to the Wairarapa community, serving on school Board of Trustees, ex-chairman Wairarapa Bush Rugby, ex director Hurricanes Rugby, coached and managed a number of sports teams. During his spare time Tony loves socialising, watching sport and travelling.

Richard Clatworthy – Director

Richard was raised in Dannevirke, graduated from Massey University in 1989 and moved to Masterton where he met his wife Sharon. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1992 he moved to Wellington to work for a big 4 practice and then overseas where he worked for a National Firm in Australia and PricewaterhouseCoopers in London. Being from a rural background Richard has always had a special interest in Farm accounting, and he returned to Masterton in 1999 where he joined Lawson Avery. Richard’s strengths have been in farm accounting, business structures and advisory, taxation and succession planning. Richard has been involved in the Wairarapa community through a number of roles including rugby as a player and on committees, a School Board of Trustees chair, and the Wairarapa Families Anglican Trust.

Brett Wooffindin – Director

Brett was raised on a South Canterbury sheep farm and moved to the Wairarapa in 2015. He gained a first class honours degree in Commerce at Lincoln University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2007. Brett’s previous experience includes getting qualified at a big four accounting firm, working at investment banks in London and contracting for top 10 NZX listed companies where he specialised in change management and process improvement. Brett specialises in cloud computing where he is the firms Xero and Figured specialist, as well as experienced with other addon such as WorkflowMax, Spotlight Reporting and payroll programmes. Brett also focuses on improving business performances through strategic planning.

Clive Baxter

Clive is from Carterton and has worked in Chartered Accountancy firms in the Wairarapa and Tararua districts since 1990. During this time Clive has studied extramurally to gain a National Certificate in Business Studies and a Bachelor of Business Degree. In 2008 Clive qualified as an ACA.

Jo Jackson

Jo was born in Wellington and grew up on a sheep and beef farm in Mauriceville in the Wairarapa. Previous to Jo joining Lawson Avery she worked in Wellington for three years at the MOT and Airways Corporation. Jo qualified as an Accounting Technician in 1997. She started work at Lawson Avery in October 1989 where she specialises in tax management and general accounting.

Heather MacDonald

Heather was born into a farming family and grew up in a small rural community near Gravity Canyon, Taihape. She studied at Massey University and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Studies in 1983, then completed a Diploma in Business and Administration extramurally to gain further university papers required to qualify as a Chartered Accountant, which she successfully did in 1986. After working for a large CA firm in Hamilton, primarily in the audit division she moved to the Wairarapa and has worked at Lawson Avery since July 1984. Heather specialises in farm accounting and lives on and is actively involved with a sheep and beef cattle farm at Ihuraua. She enjoys dealing with farmers, understands the challenges they can face and the specialist accounting and taxation requirements of a farming business.

Jennifer Martin

Jennifer was born and raised in the Wairarapa and has lived in the region most of her life. She gained a BCA in Accounting, Economics and Commercial Law from Victoria University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2011. Jennifer’s work experience includes various roles for firms in Wellington and the Wairarapa before she started at Lawson Avery in August 2018 as our cloud based specialist. As part of this role Jennifer is responsible for products such as Xero, Figured, Cash Manager Focus, Spotlight Reporting, Workflow Max and MYOB Essentials. Jennifer also has practical business experience having assisted running a family business for the last eight years.

Mark Richardson

Mark was born in Carterton and raised in the Wairarapa where his father was a local accountant and involved in Federated Farmers. He has worked in a variety of accounting practices since leaving college including Sellar & Sellar, Sadler Oakly, Cleal & Christian and also the Hutt Valley with Sherwin Chan and Walsh. Mark has experience in all areas of accounting and software, including outsourcing in the Hutt Valley as temporary financial controller when with SCW. Mark has a wide range of knowledge with IT and uses this to improve the firm and clients systems.

Felicity Tate

One of our many locals, Felicity was born and raised in Masterton before moving to Wellington to study accountancy. Felicity completed a BCA in Accounting and Commercial Law as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting from Victoria University before returning to Masterton to join Lawson Avery. Felicity qualified as a Chartered Accountant while working at Lawson Avery in 2013. She is currently a member of the Wairarapa Local Leadership Team for the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Judy Taylor

Judy joined the team at Lawson Avery in March 1998 when she and her husband moved to the Wairarapa. Previously she had been employed by Chartered Accountancy firms in Taupo and New Plymouth. In another life, prior to having her family she trained and worked as a school dental nurse. In all the CA practices she has worked for, Judy has been responsible for a wide variety of accounting processes and tax management. Living on a lifestyle property with a large garden, being an active member of the Holdsworth Lions Club and family keep Judy fully occupied outside work hours.